Invitation to an International Conference
Re-Learning
to Be Human for Global Times:
How Intercultural Encounters (Re)Shape the Contemporary
World
RVP Center
at Alexandru Ioan Cuza University of Iasi, Iasi, Romania
October 27-28, 2017
Conference Program
Theme
Intercultural
encounters both home and abroad have become a common event:
nowadays different cultures are a glance or a click away. Traditionally,
encounters between cultures took place through long-distance
human mobility or the wide circulation of artefacts; they
involved the displacement of individuals or objects and some
degree of preparedness. Whatever their motivation and form,
such encounters are held to be defining moments when
individuals gain a better understanding of themselves while
cultures interact, converse, clash or merge. Globalization,
however, has transformed intercultural encounters; in a
world with permeable boundaries where people come together
increasingly in new work contexts and social environments,
intercultural encounters are no longer a distant option, but
an everyday fact.
On the one
hand, intercultural encounters reflect the contemporary
developments in terms of globalization and virtualization.
On the other hand, they can cause and accelerate such world
changes. As encounters with people of different backgrounds
and values tend to be more fortuitous, immediate and direct,
preparedness decreases and intercultural interactions appear
to become more challenging. More or less intentionally, they
bring together real and virtual individuals and communities,
leading to a confrontation of their cultural differences and
humane similarities. Notwithstanding the challenges, such
interactions may generate a new awareness of the other and
of the self and an enhanced understanding of what it means
to be human.
This
conference proposes to survey and investigate the different
forms and effects of intercultural encounters, both real and
virtual, and to discuss how they shape the contemporary
world and how they act on re-learning to be human. It aims
to find out whether intercultural encounters can be expected
to produce new forms of communication and revise cultural
definitions and thus radically reshape the world as we know
it.
The following
issues can be discussed during the conference:
- How
do globalization and virtualization change the form and
substance of intercultural encounters?
- What
are some strategies for understanding intercultural
encounters in the contemporary world?
- Are
there new types of dialogue and knowledge emerging from
contemporary intercultural encounters?
- What
are the kinds of impact that intercultural encounters have
on spiritual practices?
- What
are the effects of contemporary intercultural encounters? Do
they change our views of culture?
- Do they
affect our understanding of humanity? Do they produce new,
shared values?
Abstract
Please send an
abstract of up to 300 words and a brief CV to Professor Dan
Chițoiu [dan811@yahoo.com],
Assistant Professor Oana Cogeanu [oa_na_co@yahoo.com]
and [cua-rvp@cua.edu] by September 15, 2017. Full papers
sent by October 1, 2017 will be considered to be published
by the RVP in its publication series "Cultural Heritage and
Contemporary Change".
Contacts
Dan Chițoiu (Organizer)
Alexandru Ioan
Cuza University of Iasi
Iasi, Romania
dan811@yahoo.com
Oana Cogeanu
(Coordinator)
Alexandru Ioan
Cuza University of Iasi
Iasi, Romania
oa_na_co@yahoo.com
